This is a picture of me on my very first geology internship. It was the summer of 1998 and I was a Paleo Intern at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. I got to experience excavating, preparing, and cataloguing specimens. But what was most important was during that summer I met a PhD student that was…
I woke up today to see a video by Jada Pinkett Smith posted on Facebook. It was her response to the Oscars being all white during a year with quite a few great movies with black actors, producers, and directors. I’ve always thought Jada was cool, but I’ve lately I grown to love her. She stole my…
Welp. We’re one week into Black Awareness Month and the whining and complaining about all the blackness is in full effect. “Why does it have to be Black achievements? Why can’t it just be achievements?” “Why is it African-American? We’re all just Americans.” #murica The Weather Channel has a new episode called Weathering the Storm:…
Right now the “Starter Pack” (also known as starter kit) meme is trending on social media. It’s a visual representation of all the things you would need to get something done or to embody a certain kind of person. They normally have 3-5 objects that would be required. They get REALLY funny. Some examples: It’s…
This semester as a professor at Miami Dade College, I decided to design the final class project around using social media where students will have to engage the general public in science. The classes I teach are ESC1000: General Earth Science, PSC1121: General Physical Science, and PSC1515: Energy in the Natural Environment. Below is a summary of…
During my graduate work I visited a researcher in Miami to discuss a new dating technique he helped develop. It led to one of the most eye-opening conversations I’ve had around diversity. He was a real cool dude. After we spent several hours talking shop and looking at his lab set up, he opened up…
There’s often a lot of secrecy on the internets and for a while, due to situations around my employer, I felt uncomfortable to disclose who I actually am. Anyone who knows me, knows secrecy is really not my thing. I’m actually more the Queen of TMI (too much information), than someone who would lead double lives.…
I’m sure I wasn’t the only scientist that was excited when it was announced Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson was going to host the new series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. I was excited that American homes everywhere were going to be filled with cutting-edge science that used engaging graphics. And it doesn’t hurt that Tyson already had a well established…
This is the most magical thing I’ve ever stumbled upon on twitter. The twitter-gods have delivered! A special woman named @Elle_Heart (aka Anneka Thvndercvnt) started this ingenious (not igneous, yes I just dropped a geo-pun) hashtag in February 2012. And then a witty soul @AlexKummert brought it into 2014. So, let’s have some geo-FUN! I’m inviting…
I’m sure most of you are wondering what this map of the United States of America is all about. You can see all the little rock hammers. But can you see the one little blue rock hammer inside? Well that lil blue rock hammer represents the 1% of all geoscientists that are black. That lil…
I might lose some supporters with this post. But I’m not going to hide who I am. I’m a geologist. Which means deep down inside I’m a hippie. Yes, a black hippie. #ITooAmHippie Brief recap for those of you who missed it…Monday night on the Colbert Report Stephen did a skit that was meant to shame…
Who doesn’t love Neil deGrasse Tyson? I call him The People’s Scientist. I just finished watching him on The Colbert Report and he shared his history with Carl Sagan. For those of you who haven’t watched the episode yet *SPOILER ALERT!* When Neil applied to Cornell University to study physics as an undergrad, the university…
The other day a friend and I were discussing controversial stereotypes. I found myself getting more and more irritated as I thought about how these generalizations are propagated throughout our society as fact, and the harm it does to everyone. I was venting my frustration at the fact that black people have very few positive…
My brain felt a little overloaded today, so I spent part of my morning putzing around the internets looking for light material to ease my sore overworked self. I visited Time Magazine Ideas website and got sucked into two opposing articles on the same issue: How do we talk about race? What sparked this journalistic…
Did I hear that correctly?! The National Parks Service and the Geological Society of America have teamed up to combat the lack of diversity? Yesssss! It’s true! This racial-gap-fighting-duo has come together and created Mosaics in Science, an 11-week internship during Summer 2014. Historically underrepresented undergraduates (or recent grads) between the ages of 17-25 can…
Black Geoscientists 